Current methods of teaching pelvic surgery include the study of surgical procedures, viewing videos of surgeries, and observing and assisting in live surgeries under the instruction of a skilled surgeon. The current “hands on” apprenticeship method of teaching surgery and the philosophy of “see one, do one, teach one” can pose substantial risk to the live patient in the operating or surgical room. Furthermore, the need for an appropriate live patient or “teaching case” can limit physician training, and can expose physicians and teaching hospitals to potential malpractice suits and increased insurance premiums. More recently, due to the risks of malpractice suits, fewer qualified physicians are teaching surgical procedures, resulting in fewer physicians who are well-trained in surgical procedures.
Cadavers can also be used to teach surgical procedures, but cadavers are expensive and pose risks of disease transmission to or by the physician. The cost to provide a cadaver lab and the ancillary personnel to staff the lab and perform training makes it unfeasible for many hospitals. As a result, these physicians may be required to travel to cadaver seminars thereby increasing the costs associated with cadaver training. For religious and cultural reasons, some physicians object to the use of cadavers to teach surgical procedures. Another drawback of using cadavers is that once a specific area of a cadaver has been operated on, the tissues are destroyed and cannot be used again to repeat the procedure. The application of preservatives, cooling, freezing or other methods to prevent decomposition of cadaver tissue can affect the feel, softness, firmness, consistency, or texture, so that the cadaver tissue does not mimic living tissue. Therefore, the cadaver operating experience does not truly mimic the experience of operating on a live patient.
Many surgeries must be performed without the benefit of an open surgical field, such that the physician is, to some extent, operating “blind”. Such “blind” surgeries require the physician to manually palpate by touch the location and identification of various tissues, organs and landmarks in the surgical field in order that the physician may perform the surgical procedure on the proper tissue or organ. Recognizing true tactile differences (e.g., size, shape, density, softness/hardness, or surface features) among tissues help identify the appropriate site to perform aspects of the surgical procedure, and prevent inadvertent cutting of tissue or organs.
Applicant believes that that there is no commercially available pelvic surgery model capable of use in teaching, practicing and evaluating all basic and advanced pelvic surgeries, and in particular there is no model on which a surgeon can perform multiple complete surgical procedures from start to finish all on the same model. However, specific anatomical pelvic surgery models have been developed by manufacturers, such as American Medical Systems, Gynecare, Bard, Boston Scientific, in order to demonstrate highly or very specific surgical techniques using said manufacturer's surgical instruments or devices. Human anatomy models of the abdominopelvic region are also available for general study and teaching of general medical procedures and physical examinations, such as those offered by Gaumard Scientific and Limbs and Things, but it is believed that these models are not designed for or capable of demonstrating or practicing a vast majority of basic and advanced surgical procedures or techniques. The absence of substantially all major organs and tissues in these limited models, particularly those necessary for identifying landmarks or orienting the physician to reach the appropriate surgical sites, inhibits the ability to provide a realistic operating experience, and inhibits teaching of procedures to adapt or respond to surgical complications caused by the presence (or unintended cutting) of these ancillary tissues and organs. These existing models, organs and tissues are generally made of a hard or semi-rigid materials and plastics. This prevents teaching of tactile differences to identify various organs and tissues in the surgical field and thus does not permit a realistic operating experience. Furthermore, the tissues and organs of existing surgical models are not replaceable and the model cannot be used for multiple procedures, increasing the cost of physician training.
It is believed that there is currently no reusable, anatomically complete, interactive pelvic surgery model that realistically mimics live tissue and which is suitable for performing all current, basic and advanced pelvic surgical techniques. It is believed that there is no anatomically complete interactive surgery model suitable for teaching, practicing and evaluating in a single model human female pelvic surgical procedures and techniques, for example but not by way of limitation, vaginal hysterectomy, bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy, retropubic urethral sling procedures, transobuturator urethral sling procedures, new single incision mid-urethral sling procedures, bilateral sacrospinous ligament suspension/fixations, bladder injury repair, or rectal injury repair.